3. High income earners invest their surplus money in listed
shares

The share of the most common financial wealth item, or deposits,
in financial assets has been declining for an extended period.
Although wealth has moved to shares and funds, the share of
deposits in financial assets still exceeds 40 per cent, while the
proportion of listed shares and mutual funds is approximately 30
per cent.

Of all households, 39 per cent had listed shares and mutual
funds. This proportion was the highest, or 40 per cent, for those
aged 45 to 54, and the average value of investments was EUR 42,000.
Owning assets of this type was equally common in the younger and
older age groups, or households of those aged 35 to 44 and 55 to 64
years, but the amounts invested by these groups were considerably
smaller than the amounts invested by those aged 45 to 54.

As income grows, households put an increasingly large share of
their liquid assets into investments with a higher risk, such as
listed shares and mutual funds. Investments in shares and funds
thus only increases dramatically for those with the highest incomes
(Figure 3). For the majority of the population, risk investments of
this type are rather marginal. In the lowest income bracket (1st
decile), only 14 per cent of households invested in shares and
funds, while in the highest income bracket (10th decile), this
share increases to approximately 70 per cent. The amounts invested
also increase manifold; while the average for all households is
some EUR 11,000, this figure for the highest income bracket was EUR
68,000. Financial assets are distributed less evenly than dwellings
and other real assets, and the highest concentrations of
investments are found in listed shares and savings in funds. In
2009, households in the highest income bracket owned 61 per cent of
all assets in the form of shares and funds.

Figure 3. Households’ ownership of listed
shares and mutual funds by income decile in 2009, EUR per household
and share of households owning assets